Sakai City Education and Culture Center (Sophia Sakai) (堺市教育文化センター（ソフィア・堺）)

Flow of the course

About this spot

An observatory equipped with Osaka Prefecture's largest 60cm-aperture reflecting telescope and a large 15cm binocular telescope. Evening astronomical observation sessions are held on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturdays of each month, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM in clear weather (7:00 PM to 7:45 PM in bad weather).

Season & hours

Tips

Admission requires the planetarium viewing fee (600 yen for adults; 250 yen for ages 4 through junior high school), sold as same-day tickets for the first 50 people (no advance reservation). Tickets go on sale 30 minutes before the start. The underground parking lot is available from 8:30 AM to 10:30 PM (first 30 minutes free, then 100 yen per 30 minutes).

Best time to visit

7:00 PM-8:30 PM on days when the evening observation session is held

Access & map

〒599-8273 1426 Fukai Shimizu-cho, Naka-ku, Sakai, Osaka